A Model of Corporate Knowledge Management
Executive Summary Knowledge and knowledge creation are becoming prime assets, like natural resources, of every competitive company in the knowledge-age. These knowledge assets originate in the creative minds of employees and managers within the organization. To tap into this rich resource, companies are investing considerable amounts of money and timeinto developing knowledge management systems to capture, store, and retrieve knowledge. Information stored in computer systems or documents is only useful if employees know how to access it. Concept maps are effective visualization tools for representing knowledge of any domain. In addition, concept maps are a learning tool and access point for the domain of knowledge represented. In simplisticform, they provide a graphic interface into the structure and relationships of knowledge. At the next level of sophistication, the software used to make concept maps becomes the knowledgebase storage system. Research findings support the effectiveness of concept maps as a thinking and visualization tool that empowers the user (learner) to more effectively use knowledge. This project is comprised ofthree concept maps, Knowledge Management, Concept Mapping, and Concept Maps as Knowledge Management Tools along with the corresponding narrative that explains the relationship of elements in the concept map. The purpose of this project is to present a basic model and demonstrate the feasibility of using a concept map as a knowledge management tool. The project is presented in paper and electronicform. In electronic form, there are more related concept maps to view than the three presented in this paper presentation. The Inspiration (Mac) files on the attached Zip disk add a deeper level of relationship allowing the user to hyperlink from one concept map to another. Instructions are included in Appendix A.

Knowledge Management — Introduction Kim Cameron wrote in 1989 that increases in knowledge, complexity, and turbulence in postindustrial environments will place enormous strain on managers. To underscore that...